


Beast Tamer Blood

by PurpleButtons0203



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: "how did these wolves get in here" i guess we'll never know, BAMF Cloud Strife, Humor, Lots of Cuddling, Multi, also lots of wolves, baby cloud is adorable, cloud doesn't take shit from anyone, cloud is kind of a little shit but he means well, cloud just wants to cuddle with his wolves leave his ass olone, everyone is just so confused, honestly who lets their kid be babysat by dragons, i literally just made up shit for clouds background sorry not sorry, i think i did a pretty good job though, i've never actually played ffvii ive just watched advent children complete and read the wiki so, if this sucks i apologize, lazard is sneaky, lmao how did this even happen, mama strife did not have the most sound child reading practices tbh, monsters love cloud, no zack we've talked about this, zack wants a pet behemoth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 20:22:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7068715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleButtons0203/pseuds/PurpleButtons0203
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cloud had dealt with a plethora of absolutely ridiculous situations since becoming an infantryman.</p>
<p>But, well, releasing a pack of fully grown Nibel wolves into the hallways of Shinra HQ? That was just asking for injury and endangerment lawsuits.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beast Tamer Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Am I even going to continue this?????? Who knows. The idea popped into my head and i couldn't get it out so *jazz hands* here you go. This is cross posted on my tumblr, purple-sea-dragon.
> 
> Final Fantasy 7 is the sole property of Square Enix. I am using these characters purely for my own amusement, no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
> This work has not been beta'd.

Cloud had dealt with a plethora of absolutely ridiculous situations since becoming an infantryman. Most of them were the normal pranks. Glitter bombs, underwear thieves, replacing all the shampoo in the barracks with purple hair dye. Then there were the more inspired pranks, like time someone had rigged the doors to play “Boss Ass Bitch” every time Commander Rhapsodos walked into a room, although to be fair he had definitely enjoyed that one. There was that one time someone had place a large salmon in every single toilet in Shinra without being caught. Every single one. And, his personal favorite, the one where someone had replaced all the coffee with decaf and then switched it to espresso two weeks later once everyone had been successfully weaned off their caffeine addiction.

But, well, releasing a pack of fully grown Nibel wolves into the hallways of Shinra HQ? That was just asking for injury and endangerment lawsuits.

Cloud, from where he was staring down the alpha of the pack in the front lobby, in front of a whole company of horrified SOLDIERS, sighed, and decided that he was too tired for this.

He clicked his tongue, gaining the attention of all eight wolves, and he hadn’t had to do something like this in a long time, so if this didn’t work he was blaming his mom and her vague explanations of wolf-taming. He’d always been better with dragons.

He slowly raised one hand in front of him and above his head, palm out facing the pack, and when he was sure that all of them were focused on it he brought it down and smacked the pack leader right between the eyes. The alpha let out a small yip of surprise, and to the shock of every single person there to witness it, sat and bared its throat in a gesture of submission. The other seven wolves followed suit. He clicked his fingers and they immediately formed ranks around him, and he bit into his thumb and smeared the precious crimson over the snout of each beast. Then, finally, he made a series of growls in the back of his throat, and in response the pack all dropped to the floor, settling down at his feet.

When he was satisfied that he had done an adequate job and that the wolves wouldn’t be attacking anyone without his say so, he turned and eyed the plethora of weapons trained on his new pack. “You can put those away now, they won’t be hurting anyone anytime soon.”

“How on earth did you manage that, private?” His gaze moved to the general himself, who had not yet sheathed masamune, and was looking at Cloud so bewilderedly that he almost felt sorry for the man. Cloud just shrugged.

“I made myself the alpha.”

#

A tiny seven year old Cloud hummed quietly to himself as he lounged in front of the fire. Winters in Nibelheim were unforgiving, but they had plenty of wood and food, and furs, even if those furs weren’t as immobile as you’d expect.

He snuggled deeper into the fur of his mother’s Nibel wolf, Sathashi, pulling her giant fluffy tail over himself to use as a blanket. Sathashi was a few years older than him, and one of the biggest Nibel wolves he had ever seen. His mother was tall for their family, about five feet ten inches, and she only came up to the bottom of Sathashi’s jaw!

The wolf was basically his second mother. She treated him just like her other four cubs, supervised his adventures when his mother was busy, she’d even helped his mother teach him to hunt. Her four children, Karysh, Lashki, Overa, and Bardel, were like siblings to Cloud, and he’d grown up playing with them instead of human children. Of course, when you lived as far up the mountain as him and his family, there really weren’t many options in terms of playmates, but whatever.

He let out a quiet breath as the four cubs in question appeared almost out of nowhere, piling on top of Cloud and wiggling around until he was in the middle of a giant mound of thick warm fur and sleepy pups. Sathashi stood to give all her children more room and padded over to her human counterpart, watching contentedly as all five of the cubs settled in for the night.

#

Cloud had been around what many considered ‘monsters’ for his entire life. He’d played with the local wolf packs, been babysit by the nesting mother dragons, even played hide and seek with the Dorky Faces in the Shinra mansion. And really, among his kind, that seemed to be a pretty tame childhood. Those with beast tamer blood always got into wild and dangerous adventures with any local monsters hanging around, and even if he tried to stay away they would just flock to him anyways.

Long ago, high in the Nibel mountains, there lived a clan of people who, instead of fighting the local monsters for territory and food like everyone else, decided to coexist with them. They became companions with the beasts of the mountains, and the wolf god Fenrir took notice. He was pleased that the humans treated their non-human counterparts with such respect and understanding, and granted the clan the ability to communicate and live peacefully with all monsters, hoping that the other humans would see the outcome of the clan’s actions and strive for the same.

They did not.

The clan, who had become known to the other humans in the area, was feared and reviled, and the members treated as outcasts from human society. The other humans thought that a clan that coexisted with the monsters must have been as dangerous and wild as the monsters themselves, and the other clans killed those with beast tamer blood wherever they were found. Eventually, once Shinra came to Nibelheim, the killing ended, but the prejudice remained, passed down generation to generation.

Cloud, his mother, and her relatives that lived on their original clan territory were the last of the beast tamers. His mother had moved to Nibelheim proper to be with Cloud’s father, and when the man had died of sickness she had moved about halfway back up the mountain; wanting to be closer to her family and her pack but unwilling to leave the town that contained all her happy memories of her dead husband. Cloud, as a consequence, had been born with a foot in each world. He played with the monsters and slept with the wolves, but he also attended human school, and he had an unquenchable desire to learn. He wanted to travel, to see the world, to meet new people, human and monster, and learn about them. And young Cloud, in all his wisdom, had decided that SOLDIER was the best way to go about doing that. Sure, he would have to work for Shinra, but he would also get to go on missions around the world, and he’d get paid pretty nicely to boot.

That was before he’d failed the exam. Oh sure, he’d passed the physical and intellectual portions with flying colors, but he was too receptive to mako. He couldn’t be enhanced without the strong possibility of death or slipping into a mako induced coma. So, with a heavy heart, he transferred to the infantry, and waited sadly for his 4-year contract to expire so he could return home to his mother and his wolves and think of another way to see the world.

That was two and a half years ago, and while he’d made some human friends(including the illustrious goofball, Zack Fair, SOLDIER First Class), he desperately missed his wolves and his dragons and all his friends in the Shinra mansion and the clan grounds and he wanted to go home.

That was, until someone let some Nibel wolves loose in the lobby.

#

Lazard gazed longsufferingly at Cloud, who was buried under a pile of giant overprotective wolves and loving every second of it. He felt the four First Classes shift uneasily behind him, except for Fair, who looked like there was nothing in the world he would like better than to drop all his gear and dive into the enormous cuddle session Cloud was holding with a bunch of _dangerous wolves_. “Private Strife, I realize that this is a highly unusual situation that calls for unusual solutions, but ‘I’m from Nibelheim’ is not actually an acceptable answer to the question of how you tamed a giant pack of deadly monsters who could kill everyone in this room with ease.”

Cloud shrugged, idly scratching the former alpha behind the ears. “Sure it is. It’s not my fault that you won’t accept my perfectly reasonable explanation for my abilities. Also, I already told you, I’m the alpha now, they won’t go attacking anyone without my say so. With all due respect sir, calm the fuck down.” Cloud stared Lazard down, pointedly not looking at any of the Firsts, who were staring at him like he’d grown a second head for talking back to the SOLDIER department chairman. Genesis had covered his mouth with both his hands and was trying valiantly not to laugh, while Angeal and Zack were so wide eyed that he thought their eyes might pop out of their heads. Sephiroth’s face remained passively blank, which Cloud admired him for. Such indifference in the face of absurdity was not an easy feat.

“I can terminate your contract,” Lazard threatened.

Cloud quirked and eyebrow and sent him the most unimpressed face in his arsenal. He’d learned from Mama Strife who was the best of the best, and men stronger than Lazard had fell before the strength of his disbelief of their bullshit. “Fucking do it, sir. That’d be awesome.”

They didn’t call him ‘Steel Balls Strife’ for nothing. Cloud didn’t take shit from anyone. Not the residents of Nibelheim, not his squad mates, not even from President Shinra himself. He certainly wasn’t going to make an exception for Lazard fucking Deusericus.

“Sir, while I understand your disbelief of the situation, it might be wiser to make sure he stays with the company,” Sephiroth said, eyeing the wolves thoughtfully. “It would certainly be a better idea to have the beasts contained somewhere we can keep an eye on them, rather than just setting them loose after Private Strife for him to do whatever he wishes.”

Lazard’s gaze turned thoughtful and calculating. “You may be right, General. In fact, having a pack of trained Nibel Wolves under the company’s jurisdiction might be one of the better ideas you’ve ever had.”

Cloud grimaced, disliking the direction the conversation had turned. “Except they’re not under your jurisdiction, sir, they’re under mine. I’m the alpha now, so they only answer to me.”

Lazard smirked. “Yes, but you answer to Shinra, don’t you, Private?”

Cloud shrugged. “Only until my contract expires in a year and a half.” He quirked an eyebrow at Lazard. “In any case, if you want to try any sort of obedience training, you’re welcome to all the casualties that entails. If you really want to keep us on, I formally take no responsibility for any actions the wolves take without my permission, whether on my behalf or not.”

Lazard grimaced. “Noted.” His expression brightened. “Why don’t we move somewhere more comfortable than this cramped conference room, and we can negotiate a new contract for you, one that provides benefits for you and your new pack as well as the company, and you can tell us more about this peculiar ability of yours.”

Cloud stood and stretched, lazily giving out a series of growls, and all the wolves stood as well, circling up and forming ranks behind him. The former alpha nudged his chest playfully, and he shoved back, chuckling softly, which turned to a yelp when the large wolf licked his face. He let out a half gasp half laugh and bopped the giant beast on the nose, wiping his face with his sleeve. He opened the door to the conference room they were in and ushered the pack out, holding the door for the First Classes and Lazard as well. Zack bounced up to him with stars in his eyes, grinning wider than Cloud had ever seen.

“Spike, that was so cool! Everyone was super scared of the wolves but you were all like ‘I got this,’ and you just smacked the biggest one in the face and now they all listen to you! How did you do that? Can you only do it with wolves? Can I learn how to do it too because I have always wanted a pet behemoth and-”

“Zack you can not have a pet behemoth, we’ve talked about this,” Angeal called, longsuffering.

Cloud laughed. “Listen to your mentor, Zack.” He grinned at the pouty face Zack sent him. “As for your other questions, no, I can’t teach you to do it, it’s an inborn ability, and yes, I can do it with pretty much all monsters. This is the first time that I’ve done wolves on my own, though, they were usually handled by my mother. I was always better with dragons.”

Everyone stopped moving. Genesis slowly turned around, face frozen with disbelief. “...Dragons?” he asked weakly.

Cloud nodded, unperturbed. “Yep. Mama used to drop me off with the nesting mothers when she and her wolf Sathashi were too busy to watch me, so I was basically babysat by dragons for about a third of my childhood.”

Genesis looked like he was about to either start yelling, crying, or laughing hysterically. For that matter, so did everyone else, except Zack. If anything, his super sparkle eyes just increased.

“Spike, you’re officially the coolest person I’ve ever met.”

Cloud patted him on the head like he would one of his companions. Zack really was like a giant puppy. “I know, Zack. I am pretty amazing.”

Lazard snorted. “Very humble, Private.”

Cloud shrugged. “I’ve gotten compliments often enough in my life to have an accurate judgement of myself, sir. I’m fucking awesome.”

Lazard ushered them into a much more spacious meeting room, and a majority of the wolves migrate to a corner and curled up in a pile, resting but ready for action should Cloud need them. The former alpha sat himself down around Cloud’s chair, and even laying completely down he was the length of five chairs and as tall as one. He was completely dwarfed, and he loved it. It reminded him of the times he would curl up with Sathashi as a child. It was just like being back in his mother’s cabin again, and some of his homesickness eased.

“Now, Cloud,” Lazard settled himself on the other side of the table, as far away from Cloud and his wolves as he could get and still be close enough to negotiate a contract. “Obviously you know more about the needs of these animals than anyone else here, so what do you think would be best to house you and your new… friends?”

Cloud settled himself back in his chair, absently running his hand through the former alpha’s fur. “Well, keeping them in the building is out of the question, obviously. Since you clearly don’t have any caves here, the closest I could come up with for suitable housing is a warehouse, and a pretty big one. It’d need to have at least five miles of unoccupied space close by, for them to run around, and if we couldn’t get that I’d recommend a of combination of a giant track like we do PT on in the mornings and something like the train graveyard. And they’d obviously need to hunt, too, so there would need to be plenty of game or other monsters around.”

Zack piped up. “I know a place like that! There’s an old warehouse district on the outside of the city, just off of sector six. It was abandoned years ago, so it’s swarming with monsters, and since you can to them or whatever they won’t be a problem for you! It probably doesn’t have any amenities, because it’s just a bunch of warehouses, but Shinra’s loaded, so it wouldn’t cost much to set up water and air conditioning and stuff.”

Lazard hummed thoughtfully. “That’s certainly fortunate. Now, as for what you’ll do for the company, I think the best position for you would be official monster consultant. You’d provide assistance to anyone who had to deal with monsters out in the field, as well as go on some monster relocation or removal missions. Maybe go to towns and get monsters to stop attacking towns? Is that a thing you can do?” He huffed out a small laugh at Cloud’s bemused nod. “I apologize, this is an entirely unprecedented situation. How would you feel about teaching an informational class once a week? Who knows how many deaths we could avoid if everyone had basic monster safety training.”

Cloud nodded. “That sounds fine. Of course, I’d have to write a curriculum for the thing, but overall it sounds like a decent job.”

Lazard scribbled down something on a nearby pad of paper and slid it to Cloud. “Does this seem to be a fair salary to you?”

Cloud actually dropped the pad of paper, wheezing in shock. “ _What the fuck_.”

Lazard frowned. “Too low?”

Cloud shook his head, eyes still wide with shock. “Sir, you just gave me my current _annual_ salary as my _monthly_ salary. If anything, it’s too _high_.” The wolf behind him whined softly and nuzzled his jaw, and Cloud stroked it’s muzzle soothingly, calming down from his near heart attack.

Lazard just smiled. “Well, we do have to have some incentive for you to stay on and keep your wolves behaving, after all. And, as Mr. Fair said earlier, Shinra is loaded. Shall we set the duration of your contract at, oh, five years?” Cloud swallowed thickly, suddenly exhausted, and nodded.

“Fine, sir, you win. I’ll take the job.”


End file.
